Ready for action: 6 big ideas in digital transformation

This 49-page report features advice from IT executives at the U.S. Postal Service, Hunter Douglas, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nationwide Insurance and more for using digital technologies to become more agile, more flexible and more profitable.

If you're ready to kick-start your organization's efforts to embrace digital technologies, this editor-curated selection of Computerworld in-depth stories is the place to start. We identified some of our most targeted content on IT-led digital projects, chock-full of fresh ideas for making your organization more digitally competent. You'll read how savvy organizations in industries across the spectrum got serious about using digital technologies to gain a competitive edge, connect better with customers and improve efficiency.

What's Inside: Stories from Top Organizations

Transformation That's All About the Customer

Part business process redesign, part agile development, the new re-engineering is endless — just like customer demands. Smart companies are learning to please customers one at a time, all of the time. Read how the CIO at Valdosta University, for example, turned IT's focus to the school's students, upgrading the campus wireless network, redesigning and repurposing some of its computer labs, and offering after-hours support service staffed by IT.

Modernizing the Mail

The advent of email may have pummeled the U.S. Postal Service, but in the end, digital services might very well save the centuries-old agency. Read how data analytics is helping the USPS with dynamic routing — the use of sophisticated computer models and data to map out the most efficient and cost-effective mail delivery routes.

IT and Operations on a Collision Course

Long autonomous, IT and operations are now forced to work together, spurred by increasingly complex digital devices that pose fearsome cybersecurity threats. And as C-suite executives grow ever more aware of these dangers, they're increasingly concerned that operations be secured, something that techies know how to do and engineers don't. Here's how organizations are making the marriage work.

Mobile Apps That Deliver ROI

These organizations are putting their mobile apps to the test, driving real ROI with lower costs and new revenue. These businesses are using apps to attract and retain customers, create a powerful new marketing channel or give their employees or business partners tools that enable them to be more efficient and productive.

Promise and Peril in the Journey to DevOps

Steep learning curves, cultural warfare and unbridled criticism are among the land mines littering the path to DevOps. However, plenty of perks await organizations that complete the trek successfully. One such organization is Nationwide. Since embracing DevOps in 2009, the insurance company has improved software quality by 50% and reduced user downtime by 70%. Today, more than 100 agile teams, growing at a rate of 35% a year, handle a whopping 60% of the company's development work and new projects.

Combating the Diversity Dearth With Analytics

Best known for driving hiring decisions and identifying skills gaps, data analytics can also deliver the visibility, workforce intelligence and employee engagement needed to improve the gender, ethnic and racial diversity of IT teams. Using tools from vendors such as Visier, PeopleFluent and Workday, organizations can compare their data against national benchmarks, identify gaps in leadership diversity and measure how their recruitment, retention and career development strategies directly impact the makeup of their IT teams.